Newsletter for Tuesday, Mar 29 2016

INSTAGRAM OF THE DAY

THE TRUMP EFFECT: WHO SWITCHED PARTIES TO VOTE IN PA’S CLOSED PRIMARY

Midnight — a few hours ago — was the deadline to switch parties to vote in Pennsylvania’s closed primary election on April 26. So if you were an Independent and wanted to cast a ballot for or against Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, you had to switch parties. And plenty did, in Philadelphia. Thousands. Several others switched from Democrat to GOP, because Trump (most likely). That was part of a statewide wave of party-switching, some 128,000 people switched. Pollster Terry Madonna floated an interesting (though let’s be honest, a total guess) theory to the Inquirer: “…In the Philadelphia suburbs, if people are switching, some of that would be strategic: Vote for Trump because he would be the weakest candidate against [Hillary] Clinton.”

THE ‘MESSY’ CLAIM IN AN ATTORNEY GENERAL CANDIDATE’S AD

A candidate for attorney general from western Pennsylvania has spent a quarter of a million dollars running ads in the Philadelphia area branding himself as a former prosecutor who’s tough on cops. In a new TV advertisement for Stephen Zappala, a Democrat and the district attorney of Allegheny County, a narrator says Zappala is “the only DA in our state to convict an on-duty police officer of criminal homicide.” The idea that only one police officer in Pennsylvania had been convicted of criminal homicide was surprising. So we decided to check the claim.

THE FIGHT TO REMOVE STIGMA FROM APPLYING FOR PUBLIC AID

Philadelphia has the highest poverty rate of the top 10 largest cities in America. That means a high percentage of residents are receiving, or are at least eligible for, public benefits. And nearly half a million Philadelphians use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — AKA food stamps — and more than that have access to Medicaid for health care assistance. But there are more than a dozen other local, state and federal benefits for which Philadelphia residents qualify, ranging from help paying utilities to assistance with housing to a decrease in taxes. And one out of every four eligible residents in the city isn’t getting the SNAP benefit for which they qualify. Meet the people who are trying to help more people get help.